Life on a Navy Base?

Question

My husband is seriously thinking about joining the Navy. We have a 6 month old daughter as well. I was wondering what life is like on the base for families when their loved ones are "out to sea." From what I understand I won't be able to see him very often. Are the benefits for family good? Are the houses on base nice? Please tell me as much as you can about your experiences on base, and if the life as a Navy wife is as good as they try to make it sound. Thanks in advance for answers.

Answer 1

First of all you don't have to live on base. They will pay your husband BAH basic allowance for housing. You will either have to pay that money to the private contractor that now runs Navy housing or you can save some money and live less expensively out in town. The benefits to married personnel are huge. You will get the best health care money has to offer for you and your daughter, all for free. Your husband will be at home every night unless he is on ship and has duty, then he will stay onboard for that 24 hour period. If he is underway he will be gone from a few days to a few weeks to 6 months. He will only deploy once every 12-18 months for a 6 month deployment depending on the type of ship he is on. Sea duty is much better than shore duty because he will get paid extra money to be stationed on a ship that he won't get being on shore duty. The chances of getting sent to shore duty are slim, but it can happen. Shore duty now is SUPER boring and I don't recommend it for somebody that wants to have a good time in the Navy. You will also be able to shop on base which will save you thousands of dollars over his enlistment period. It is worth for him to enlist in the Navy. I was active duty forever and am not a Navy veteran. My husband is still in and we wouldn't trade all the benefits for anything. If you guys are barely making it financially with or without your daughter things will be much different once he joins. The first year is a little tight for money since he will be paying his $100 a month for his GI Bill benefit, but after that the money is very good. The higher in paygrade he gets the more money he gets overall. Each paygrade he goes up the more money he gets in pay and in housing allowance. My husband is an E6 with 16 years in our reportable income is only about $24K a year but we take home around $70K a year total. Not bad for one person plus the health care benefit makes things all worth it. We just had twins and the bill was over 1 million dollars for all of us and it was paid for by the Navy, we didn't pay a cent. Just do it, you will be happy you did.

Answer 2

base housing isn't the nicest houses in the world but they are in good shape and its a roof over your head. If you live on base there are allot of things to do and you will be surrounded by other military spouses so it will make the deployments easier because you will have them to turn to as a support group because they are going through the same thing or have had their spouses deployed before, and there are schools for your children and they will understand the needs of your child as well because the other students in that school are military children and chances are a few of those teachers are spouses.

Answer 3

Many things to do on the military base... dont worry you wont be bored. It will save you a lot of money.
But its gona suck when your husband is away. But in todays navy, he will be able to email you every single day, and call you quite often.
And i believe they are working very hard on Video Conferencing, to make things a bit more easier.

I thank you husband in advance, for his future enlitment.

Answer 4

The benefits are great, but the living on post isnt going to be great. You may have a small house because he is just joining, but there are lots of things to do.